How do Boise State’s late-night games fare on TV? And which was most-watched game so far?

The Boise State football team’s string of late-night TV games is averaging about a half-million viewers this season — more than double the other ESPN2 games in that time slot.

Those numbers explain why the Broncos are such a popular selection by ESPN for late Saturday kickoffs, which are one of fans’ biggest complaints.

The Boise State-BYU game on Saturday drew 571,000 viewers, according to sportsmediawatch.com. The game began at 8:25 p.m. The Broncos also played in the so-called “late prime” window on ESPN2 on Sept. 14 against Portland State, drawing 391,000 viewers, and Oct. 12 against Hawaii, which drew 555,000. The three late ESPN2 games averaged 505,667 viewers.

The three non-Boise State games that have been featured in the late ESPN2 window this season have averaged just 221,333 viewers: San Diego State-Colorado State (225,000), Hawaii-Nevada (254,000) and Toledo-Colorado State (185,000). Utah State-Air Force is in that slot this week, followed by BYU-Utah State next week.

The Broncos have fared better in their two Friday night games, which started at 7 p.m. and also aired on ESPN2 with less competition from other broadcasts. The Marshall game on Sept. 6 attracted a season-high 1.38 million viewers while the Sept. 20 game against Air Force dipped to 895,000. Those are the only two Friday night games ESPN2 has aired this season, and the Marshall game is the most-watched college football game on ESPN2 this season.

The Broncos’ second-most-watched game was the season opener Aug. 31 at Florida State — even though the game was moved to ESPNews on short notice. That game drew 1.19 million viewers, which was significantly less than the ESPN game at the same time (South Alabama-Nebraska, 1.78 million) or the game that was given the Boise State-Florida State time slot on ESPN when kickoff was moved up because of hurricane concerns (Georgia-Vanderbilt, 1.82 million).

The Broncos’ other game, an 8:30 p.m start at UNLV, was on CBS Sports Network. Viewership numbers aren’t available.

Last year, Boise State had four games reach 1 million viewers on ESPN — the abbreviated First Responder Bowl (1.445 million), the Mountain West championship game vs. Fresno State (1.036 million), the regular-season finale against Utah State (1.078 million) and the trip to Oklahoma State (1.438 million). The Broncos only played one late Saturday game on ESPN2, getting 470,000 viewers for the BYU game.

The average audience for the Broncos’ ESPN2 late games was 425,000 in 2017, 462,000 in 2016 and 747,333 in 2015. The 2015 BYU game had an audience of 1.027 million — by far the largest the Broncos have experienced in the late ESPN2 window the past five seasons.

Boise State could land in the late ESPN2 game twice more this season. The home games Nov. 9 against Wyoming and Nov. 16 against New Mexico haven’t been assigned times and TV networks yet. The other three remaining games are on CBS Sports Network, including next week at San Jose State (8:30 p.m. Nov. 2).

How late games fare on ESPN2

Here are the 10 most-watched college football games that aired on ESPN2 with kickoffs after 8 p.m. Mountain the past three seasons:

Source: SportsMediaWatch.com

Chadd Cripe

Idaho Statesman

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Chadd Cripe has worked at the Idaho Statesman for 25 years and was named editor in March 2021. He oversees the Idaho Statesman newsroom. Support my work with a digital subscription